What Do You Believe?

We believe in so many things: news, the Internet, concepts, ideologies, people, traditions, fables, books, etc.  But our beliefs change and morph and disappear throughout our lives. But the one thing that never changes is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,  and He came to this earth in the flesh and lived with us.  He showed us how to live as God wants us to live.  He showed us how to be kind and merciful, generous and loving, hardworking but requiring rest and quiet.  And for all of his perfection He was tortured and hung on a cross to die for our sins so that we might have eternal life with Him in heaven.

This week I drew a Santa Claus in my Bible. Before  I actually added the artwork I did some research on the origins of Santa Claus and of course, the origins of Saint Nicholas. And from all of my readings I could not find anything wrong with the concept of Santa Claus.  St. Nick was born in what is now Turkey but was then part of Greece.  He was a good man who loved God and became a priest in the 3rd century A.D.  He was generous and kind and tried to help those in need.  But other than that there was not much to substantiate the  connection to our version of Santa Claus. But our version is kind and generous and wants to make children happy.

I remember when I was a child my brother told me that Santa was not real and my mother confirmed it.  I was so disappointed, and Christmas was never the same.  But I know that I will never be disappointed in Jesus.  He will always love me, teach me, lead me, and will someday greet me as I enter heaven.

So the journal entry for our class this week is Santa kneeling at the manger.  He is worshipping and believing that Jesus is the Son of God, demonstrating to us where our real beliefs should be.  Is it wrong to allow our children to believe in Santa? I don't think so.  It was magical for a while and it never hindered my belief in God and Jesus.
I colored it with Prismacolor Colored Pencils and outlined with 005 Micron pen.

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